More Quotes About Fasting
Sometimes a quote or excerpt from someone can impact us more than volumes of books on a topic. So I thought I would share more quotes this year in the event they inspire you as you fast.
Martin Luther
(German reformer who lived 1483 to 1546)
[From a sermon on Matthew 4:1ff. in 1524] Of fasting I say this: it is right to fast frequently in order to subdue and control the body. For when the stomach is full, the body does not serve for preaching, for praying, for studying, or for doing anything else that is good. Under such circumstances God’s Word cannot remain. But one should not fast with a view to meriting something by it as by a good work.
What Luther Says, Vol. 1, compiled by Ewald M. Plass (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), p. 506.
John Calvin
(Reformer of Geneva who lived 1509 to 1564)
Holy and lawful fasting has three objectives. We use it either to weaken and subdue the flesh that it may not act wantonly, or that we may be better prepared for prayers and holy meditations, or that it may be a testimony of our self-abasement before God when we wish to confess our guilt before him.
Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 2 (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), p. 1241 (IV, xii, 15).
Matthew Henry
(English Presbyterian pastor and Bible expositor who lived 1662 to 1714)
If the solemnities of our fasting, though frequent, long and severe, do not serve to put an edge upon devout affections, to quicken prayer, to increase Godly sorrow, and to alter the temper of our minds, and the course of our lives, for the better, they do not at all answer the intention, and God will not accept them as performed to Him.
A Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 4 (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, n. d.), p. 1478.
William Law
(English spiritual writer who lived 1668 to 1761)
If religion requires us sometimes to fast and deny our natural appetites, it is to lessen that struggle and war that is in our nature; it is to render our bodies fitter instruments of purity, and more obedient to the good motions of divine grace; it is to dry up the springs of our passions that war against the soul, to cool the flame of our blood, and render the mind more capable of divine meditations. So that although these abstinences give some pain to the body, yet they so lessen the power of bodily appetites and passions, and so increase our taste of spiritual joys, that even these severities of religion, when practiced with discretion, add much to the comfortable enjoyment of our lives.
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1966, orig. 1728), p. 112.
Charles Finney
(American Presbyterian minister and revivalist who lived from 1792-1875)
To the honor of God alone I will say a little of my own experience in this matter. I was powerfully converted on the morning of the 10th of October. In the evening of the same day, and on the morning of the following day, I received overwhelming baptisms of the Holy Ghost, that went through me, as it seemed to me, body and soul. I immediately found myself endued with such power from on high that a few words dropped here and there to individuals were the means of their immediate conversion. My words seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in the souls of men. They cut like a sword. They broke the heart like a hammer. Multitudes can attest to this. Oftentimes a word dropped, without my remembering it, would fasten conviction, and often result in almost immediate conversion. Sometimes I would find myself, in a great measure, empty of this power. I would go out and visit, and find that I made no saving impression. I would exhort and pray, with the same result. I would then set apart a day for private fasting and prayer, fearing that this power had departed from me, and would inquire anxiously after the reason of this apparent emptiness. After humbling myself, and crying out for help, the power would return upon me with all its freshness. This has been the experience of my life.
Andrew Fuller
(English Baptist pastor and writer who lived 1754 to 1815)
Fasting is supposed to be the ordinary practice of the godly. Christ does not make light of it, but merely cautions them against its abuses. . . . It is an appendage to prayer, and designed to aid its importunity. It is humbling, and in a manner, chastising ourselves before God. The spirit of it is expressed in the following passages—“So do God to me and more also, if I taste bread, or aught else, till the sun be down.” “Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.” No mention is made of the time, or how often the duty should be attended to. . . . It is only a means, however; if rested in as an end, it will be an abomination in the sight of God.
The Complete Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller, Vol. 1 (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publication, 1988, orig. 1844), p. 583.
Phillips Brooks
(American pastor, author of “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” 1835-1893)
This, then, is the philosophy of fasting. It expresses repentance, and it uncovers the life to God. “Come down, my pride; stand back my passions; for I am wicked, and I wait for God to bless me.”
“Fasting” (a sermon for Lent), in: The Candle of the Lord and Other Sermons (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1881), p. 207.
Andrew Murray
(South African pastor and missionary statesman, 1828-1916)
Prayer needs fasting for its full growth. Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible. Fasting is the other hand, the one with which we let go of the visible. In nothing is man more closely connected with the world of sense than in this need for, and enjoyment of, food. It was the fruit with which man was tempted and fell in Paradise. It was with bread that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. But He triumphed in fasting. . . .
The body has been redeemed to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. In body as well as spirit, Scripture says, we are to glorify God in eating and drinking. There are many Christians to whom this eating for the glory of God has not yet become a spiritual reality. The first thought suggested by Jesus’ words in regard to fasting and prayer is that only in a life of moderation and self-denial will there be sufficient heart and strength to pray much. . . .
Fasting helps to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain the Kingdom of God. And Jesus, Who Himself fasted and sacrificed, knows to value, accept, and reward with spiritual power the soul that is thus ready to give up everything for Him and His Kingdom.
With Christ in the School of Prayer (Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1981), pp. 100-101.
David R. Smith
(twentieth-century author)
A selfish person is unable to enjoy the gospel; a Christian is someone who has begun to deny himself, and is in the continuous process of denying himself. Jesus said “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Self-denial is not limited to one particular kind of giving; it embraces all personal disciplines. Fasting is only one discipline; nevertheless, it is self-denial. This does not mean that to fast is to embrace legalism; it is gospel liberty which encourages us to deny ourselves.
Fasting: A Neglected Discipline (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1954), p. 17.
**********************
Nobody can maintain a desired state of mind whilst his bodily condition is not in accordance with it. If a man is anxious to devote himself to spiritual things, for a time, he is obliged to ensure that his body is in similar environment, or else he may not succeed. He cannot be reverent in the midst of his own physical irreverence. Fasting ensures the correct environment for sorrowful and serious considerations. Asterius wrote, in the 4th Century, that one role of fasting is to ensure that the stomach does not make the body boil like a kettle, to the hindering of the soul.
Fasting: A Neglected Discipline (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1954), pp. 38-39.
**********************
Fasting does not create faith, for faith grows in us as we hear, and read, and dwell upon, God’s Word; it is a work of the Holy Spirit to bring faith to God’s people. However, fasting has the capacity to encourage faith in the one who is involved in this discipline. It seems as though the neglect of self feeds the faith which God has implanted in the hearts of born-again believers. This doesn’t mean that those who eat the least have the most faith; such a view is not only untrue, it is extremist. It is simply that regular self-denial has its benefits, and one of these is seen in a personal increase in faith.
Fasting: A Neglected Discipline (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1954), pp. 47-48.
Dallas Willard
(twentieth-century writer on the spiritual disciplines)
Fasting is a hard discipline to practice without its consuming all our attention. Yet when we use it as a part of prayer or service, we cannot allow it to do so. When a person chooses fasting as a spiritual discipline, he or she must, then, practice it well enough and often enough to become experienced in it, because only the person who is well habituated to systematic fasting as a discipline can use it effectively as a part of direct service to God, as in special times of prayer or other service.
The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988), p. 168.
Question: Was there a quote that challenged or inspired you? If so, how do you think it will impact your fast going forward?
RELATED POSTS
- Fasting Day 4: Quotes About Fasting
- Inspired and Impacted: Quotes About Fasting and Prayer (Part 1)
- Inspired and Impacted: Quotes About Fasting and Prayer (Part 2)
FROM THE ARCHIVES
- Fasting Day 16: Fasting Is… (Part 3)
- Fasting Day 16: Require and Rejoice
- Fasting Day 16: Targeting Decisions, The St. Paul Fast
- Fasting Day 16: Three Truths for Stormy Seasons
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, Shades of Grace will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
“Natalie Grace Nichols is experiencing God’s grace and freely expressing it. My wife, Betty, and I thank God for the ministry of Jesus through Natalie.”
“I’m so thankful that God is raising up women like Natalie for a new generation, providing biblically balanced teaching, encouragement, and comfort for people who are enduring life’s trials.”
